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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Debbie Reynolds in The Debbie Reynolds Show (1969)

Debbie Thompson (Reynolds) is wife to Jim (Don Chastain), a successful sports reporter herself. Unsatisfied at home, she spends her time scheming to become a reporter, assisted by her sister Charlotte. Their schemes get them in all sort of trouble and exasperates Jim, who just wants his wife to stay home and keep house. Is this sounding familiar? Perhaps because the show was produced by one of the former writers on I Love Lucy - Jess Oppenheimer and featured the writing talents of Bob Carroll Jr. and Madelyn Davis, also Lucy veterans.

This series was only on for one season, which isn't surprising, considering how the somewhat tone deaf concept failed to take into account the changing times. Debbie is delightful in it, however, displaying her knack for physical comedy. Look for Tom Bosley as her brother-in-law. The series can be hard to find. It's never made it to DVD and the only presence it has on YouTube is the network promo for it. It's above, uploaded by MattTheSaiyn.

12 comments:

I have a vague memory of watching this and liking it. However, I was in second grade at the time. I seem to recall a scene where Debbie comes down onto the set wearing a parachute. My other memory is this: My mom was a member of a weekly evening mahjong group that met in round robin fashion at the different members' homes for over 20 years. For some reason I can still remember overhearing one of the ladies mentioning this show early in its run and saying it was awful, and I remember wondering why because I thought it was kind of funny.

Don Chastain who played her husband played a reporter in the Broadway musical Superman and then worked for the next 40 years in the theatre - he passed away two years ago and I think his last Broadway appearence was in the musical Parade. He was the definition of a "working actor". A good man.

The comment at the end that Debbie's appearance is "bland but peppery" is quite a compliment! After watching the clip, I imagined myself going back in time and sitting down next to my 7-year-old self in our family room while this was on, and asking him/me what exactly was funny about this show! Well, I suppose there was one surprise in the clips. When Debbie opened the bathroom door I expected the husband to come rushing in and falling into a water-filled bathtub. The show really does look awful, as my mom's mahjong group member said.

A 1970 episode of "Here's Lucy" featured Lucy plunging into the set as a skydiver, so Anonymous might be remembering the other show, I don't know. I never even knew that the Reynolds sitcom existed, but it has the Carroll/Pugh-Davis stamp all over it. Madelyn Pugh Davis died this past April.

Thanks for that information, Leighton. I just looked at the episodes list for this show on IMDB. The second episode is titled "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Debbie." There are no further details, but I did a Google news search, and found a synopsis in the TV listings of the "Beaver County Times" from April 25, 1970. It says she decides to do some flying of her own when her husband announces plans to ride with a group of stunt fliers to get material for a sports story. This may very well be the episode I remember in which she parachutes down onto the set. Based on that synopsis it sounds not unlikely. I am pretty sure I am thinking of this show and not "Here's Lucy."

Hmmmm, so Reynolds did it first - by a year. I looked up Madelyn Pugh Davis and Bob Carroll, Ball's writers, on IMDb - neither is listed for Reynold's show - just producer/writer Jess Oppenheimer. Unlike Carroll/Davis, he only worked on "I Love Lucy," and none of her other shows. Carroll/Davis followed her all the way through "Life with Lucy" (a most unfortunate conclusion to Ball's career). Ball spoke to one of my USC film school classes in 1985 - promoting her TV movie "Stone Pillow." This was just prior to the failure of "Life with Lucy." I hate saying this, but she came across as most unpleasant...she did have a reputation as being very difficult. On the other hand, Reynolds was so much fun, when she hosted a "Singing in the Rain" viewing the same year. I digress, but Jimmy Stewart and Fred MacMurray were also wonderful guests for USC screenings...

Yes, I have heard that before about Lucy's unpleasantness. Madelyn Pugh-Davis once made a comment about how different Lucy and Desi were to work for. Apparently Desi had a temper but he was basically a nice and very funny man, as well as a diplomat. She said that Lucy could tell them their script that week was good and they would think she was a b****, whereas Desi could tell them that their script was lousy and they would love him for it.

I had a neighbor over 20 years ago who got a job working for Debbie at her museum. I heard through a mutual friend that he loved working for her and really liked her. However, his feelings of warmth did not extend to her daughter!

Wow! That is totally unacceptable behavior. I have actually heard mixed things about her. I read years ago that when she was on "The Ed Sullivan Show" she wanted her hairdresser to have her own dressing room. None was available, so Debbie asked Ed if he would vacate his dressing room for her hairdresser. The answer was no and it was the last time Debbie was asked to appear on the show. Whether it is true or not I do not know. But I do believe in the old saying that where there is smoke there is fire.

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Every year there are tens of thousands of productions completed and released commercially. This has been going on for over 100 years. Each year there are a handful of them that become touchstones, remembered classics lovingly handed down from generation to generation. These aren't those productions. Featured here on this blog are the forgotten step children of the entertainment industry, films and television shows that started out with the best of intentions, and though no fault of their own (well... sometimes) they've been forgotten and left to languish on the dusty shelves of history. I hope you enjoy the films and television I dig up!
When I'm not digging through the dustbin of lost content I'm one of America's most unique lifestyle gurus - Brini Maxwell.